Getting Head From Tails
by Delav
Summary: AU story with JoshuaxArtur. Modern day highschool students, playing lax. Forgive me for the corny title, I just couldn't help myself. I may make continuation of this one. More like a bunch of one-shots stuck together than actual story though. Who knows?


Joshie and Artur.

Joshua chuckled to himself as he passed the defender, the rudimentary head fake used to shrug off his opponent shouldn't have phased an eighth grader. Then again, a rudimentary head fake from him was anything but rudimentary. Joshua had made quite the name for himself, Star player of a back to back championship team, two time all star middie, already holding the league record for assists he was making quick progress as the close runner up for the record of most goals scored in a career; and his Junior season was only three games deep. It wasn't his undeniably uncanny luck that had gotten him this far, though he certainly had more than enough of that, it was his blazing speed and almost supernatural agility. On more than one occasion he had taken the athletic colloquialism to the next level and had literally broken a defender's ankles with his earthen-bound acrobatics. Artur felt the uncontrollable smirk force itself across his lips as he watched his teammate dance around the field, his long red hair suspended almost perpetually by his smooth-flowing and consistent movement. Artur rose to his feet from his familiar spot on the bench, being third string goalie meant a lot of time riding the pine, but he really didn't mind. "Quite the nice move Joshua!" Artur blushed as he heard himself yelling the clumsy cheer, he was never much for getting a point across quickly and it was uncharacteristic of him to speak up at all because of such. Joshua's ears perked at the sound of that voice calling his name. Momentarily Joshua was out of the game, his head was completely in the clouds, he had to search the sidelines, to find that face, that awkwardly shy smile, to be sure he had heard right. He found it, sure enough, it was THAT boy, yelling his name, and the two momentarily locked eyes before the lesser skilled of the two blushed and looked away. Fortunately, when is came to lacrosse, Joshua's body ran on instinct, he put one foot in the box and gingerly stepped out just as the count for ten was about to come down. With a fresh ten seconds hanging over him, Joshua couldn't help but focus on the rising tingle in his lower stomach, some people call it butterflies, but he couldn't accept that phrase, this felt more like flying polar bears than gentle winged insects. He maneuvered carefully across the top of the box, his glance flashing back and forth from the active field to his delicately shy and, as far as he knew, forbidden interest. It was during one of the latter moments that suddenly he could no longer feel the butterflies, he could no longer feel the familiar weight of the ball being gently cradled in its net, he could no longer feel the cool sea breeze that perpetually blew across his home field, all he could feel was black. "Black?" he asked himself, "I don't think you're supposed to feel colors."

Pop ... Pop ... Joshua heard the familiar clicks of his helmet being undone. He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself looking into the gentle face of Vanessa, the resident athletic trainer. "Is he alright?" Joshua's attention slowly faded to the young man standing behind her from which the voice had eeped. "Yes Artur he will be fine I think. It is probably just a slight concussion." She turned her attention back to a mildly confused Joshua "What's your name?" "Josh" "Do you know what today is?" "Thursday" "Well good news Joshua, you are fine, two days ago, today is Saturday." Joshua was still a little too foggy to understand what she meant. "But its probably only a mild concussion, do you feel like you can get up?" "Yeah ... I think so..." As the red head shifted his weight forward he felt an immediate shot of pain run through his shoulder and up his neck. "Arggh" he fell back down. "Joshua!" Artur couldn't help but move towards his teammate "What is it Joshua?" Vanessa was concerned but kept her cool, she had seen more than her fair share of injuries. Joshua smirked, "It hurts right here" he cupped his hand over his left collarbone. "Well, that may be more of a problem, we will have to get you for x-rays." Joshua was still too groggy to put up the futile protest that he normally would have.

The next moment of clarity he could gather was a doctor showing him a black and white picture that, to him, looked more like abstract art than an actual representation of any recognizable part of his body. "You see right here Joshua.." The doctor pointed to a spot that was lighter than the rest "your collarbone is broken. Fortunately it is only minor and should only take four or so weeks to heal." "FOUR WEEKS!" Joshua protested. "I can't be out that long." "Sorry, but there is no way around this." The doctor didn't sound the least bit sympathetic, nor did he wait around long enough for Joshua to ask any questions. A cheerful, plump nurse in flowery pink scrubs quickly ushered her way into the room just as the doctor made his escape, a perfectly executed substitution. After a quick demonstration on the functionality of the brace with which Joshua would become intimately acquainted over the next four weeks, the smiley woman left Joshua with a perky "Good luck." and a white prescription slip for painkillers that the doctor had given her to pass on. "Thanks" Joshua muttered still trying to grasp the concept of being out of competition for a month. He left the small white examination room and made his way down the brightly lit halls of the E.R. It was an odd place, he felt more comfortable in the flowery old Victorian house that his pediatrician's office was housed in, perhaps that is why he was so hesitant to switch away from the children's office. "What are you thinking about that for?" Joshua scolded himself, it was completely irrelevant to anything that was happening, perhaps it was still the cloud of confusion left from the concussion. He pushed through one of the two heavy double doors that lead to the waiting room. His eyes did not search the lobby for familiar faces as most kid's would have, he knew there would be none to be found. His father had died years ago, heart attack at a terrifyingly young age, and his Mother was understandably a workaholic. He didn't hold it against his mother, he had grown quite used to her not being at his games, not being there to give him rides home in the rain, not being there when he scored the winning goal in last years tournament finals, not being there to pick him up from the E.R. He understood because these things meant that there was a roof over their head and food on the table, and he understood because it kept his mother sane, and sadly, it kept her happy. He kept his eyes glued on the black metal doors as he made his way to the exit, it seemed that a few hours had passed since he entered the hospital as the sky was already painted amber with the setting sun. "Joshua!" The red head almost tripped over himself with surprise as he heard the call. Looking up he couldn't believe it, as he saw the ball of messy sienna making its way towards him. "Artur?" Joshua asked clearly perplexed. "Why are you here?" Artur blushed and fumbled over his words. "Well Vanessa said someone ... needed to be here... and she unfortunately had some rather important business to attend to so I volunteered to stay."

"Oh well, thank you, but you really shouldn't have wasted your time, I'm fine on my own." Joshua defensively answered, a little thrown off by his own sense of embarrassment.

"Oh." Artur replied, clearly shaken by the negative tone of Joshua's voice. "I'm sorry."

Joshua back tracked "Don't apologize for it. I am just sorry that you had to wait so long."... Joshua's stomach growled as if to emphasize his point. He smirked. "Tell ya what, how bout you and me go out to dinner, my treat, you must be hungry too."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly..." Artur was unsure as to how to word it ... "trouble you like that." he blushed as his eyes danced awkwardly across the the checkerboard tiles.

Joshua didn't want to push his luck with the young man, he already knew it was a long shot, even in today's modern society were these things were more openly accepted, the chances of Artur, well, playing for the same team as him, were slim. If he came across as too pushy, it would be more than disastrous. He stuck his fingers down his shirt and with a slight yank produced a chain, from which dangled an old looking halfdollar coin. "How bout this." Joshua began, as his clearly practiced fingers undid the clasp releasing the coin into his free hand. "Heads, you win, and you have to let me treat you to dinner. Tales you lose, and you have to drive me home on an empty stomach." A smile crossed his face, he had always been good at hedging his bets, though he would prefer to actually go out, a ride home also gave them ample alone time.

Artur sighed, "Seems, fair enough." Unbeknown to Joshua, Artur was enjoying these odds just as much as he was.

Joshua smirked. "Here goes." He flipped the coin rather high into the air, caught it and slapped it down on the back of his free hand. Slowly he pulled back the cupped hand. He couldn't help but sigh and drop his shoulders when he saw the outcome. "Tails it is." He said in a defeated voice. Well let's get going. "Oh" Joshua's ears perked at the reciprocated tone of defeat in Artur's voice. Even if chance were against them, maybe there was hope after all. "Don't get your hopes up Joshua." He told himself, but he already felt the polar bears making their way back into his intestines.

"You drive THAT?" Joshua said with a laugh. The white Volkswagen beetle chirped in response to Artur's depressed button. "Um yeah, well, it's my sister's." Artur chuckled and held up his hands defensively. "It gets worse" he said with an embarrassed smirk as he pointed to the front of the car. The hood was covered in a giant pink rose, a custom decal, that, had it not been so blatantly feminine may have actually impressed Joshua. "WOW... wow... really Artur? Really?" ... Artur chuckled, "Yup really." Joshua teasingly made an overly emphatic search around the parking lot, "I can't let anyone see me getting into this thing." He said playfully. Artur smiled in response as he himself descended into his seat. "You can walk home if you prefer." Is what Artur would have said if he were bolder. Instead he turned the key and the little car hummed to life. Both boys eye's shot open as a song by Miley Cyrus blared at an almost ear blastingly high volume. Artur's hand shot forward and quickly hit the power button.

"Artur! How could you do that! You idiot! He is going to think I'm so lame. Well there you go you bafoon, you've blown it already. How could you forget to take the CD out." Artur scolded himself even as he could feel the heat, it must have been the biggest blush of his life, it covered his face, his neck, even his back. His entire body felt like it must have been beat red.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ARTUR!" Joshua yelled. "I'm sorry .. I don't know.. maybe it was my sister's ..." he fumbled for an excuse, as to why he was blaring a Hannah Montana CD, but nothing would come. Artur closed his eyes trying to resist what he knew was inevitable now. He was always an easy crier, one of his many flaws and right now he knew he was on the verge of tears, Joshua would definitely never like him now, it was already impossible anyway, but definitely not now. He felt the warm dampness beginning to build in the corner of his eyes, that is until they shot open, the ear-splittingly loud pop music was back on.

Joshua's finger still hovered over the power button, he smiled at Artur. "What is wrong with you Artur?! Turning off one of my favorite songs!" he hesitated a moment, a big, but charming grin strewn across his face before turning the volume down to a slighter but still audible level. "But I like it a little bit better this way, we won't have to yell." "Yeah." was all Artur could say, still kind of unsure about what just happened. So the two bombed around the streets of their little town in the white and pink flowered beetle listening to Miley Cyrus and making small talk until they reached Joshua's house.

"Well, thanks for the ride kid." Joshua tried not to sound disappointed that it was already over. "Yeah... anytime you need one ... just um let me know." It was a simple statement, would have been nothing to many of the normal people out in the world, but for Artur this was an uncharacteristically bold move. He couldn't believe it when he heard the words that followed actually come from his mouth "you can even call me if need to, my number is ... is .." He got stuck, he never used his own number, or gave it to anyone so he wasn't really quite sure what it was. He felt his face begin to heat up again. "Here, give me your phone." Joshua held out his hand, Artur complied. Joshua punched in some numbers and his own phone began ringing. "Its easier for me this way, all I have to do is press save, instead of fiddling with all those buttons." He smiled and handed Artur's phone back to him. "Now how bout you come in for a bit and I'll make you something to eat?" The cool demeanor with which he said the words did not betray the burning nervousness that roared inside him as he made the offer. "But ... tails..." was all Artur could get out. ""Drive me home on an empty stomach". Was the deal, we didn't say anything about after we were already here." Joshua smiled at his own cleverness. "It's umm okay. I'm not hungry." Artur's insides knotted as he declined the offer, he wanted so badly to say yes, but he was simply too shy. "Oh okay." Joshua said dejectedly, mistaking Artur's declination of his offer as a form polite rejection of himself as a whole. Joshua swallowed his pride and did his best to muster a proper farewell. "Well okay, see you at schoo..." Joshua paused and cocked his held slightly to the side as he looked past Artur. "What is it Joshua? Are you okay!?" Artur's voice was full of concern. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine ... Is that a spider on your window?" Artur's eyes shot wide and before either of the two knew it he had shot across the car and had found himself in Joshua's lap with his arms around his neck. "GET IT OUTTTTT!!" he squealed somehow managing not too sound overly feminine.

"Actually, now that I look at it closer ... I think its just a leaf." Joshua said apologetically. The threat of a deadly arachnid hellbeast no longer hanging over his head Artur began to realize the position that he found himself in. He realized that he felt the soft strands of red hair against the back of his hands, he felt the warmth of the soft skin against his palms, he felt the cool uneven breath brush across his face, he felt himself being pressed against the athletic torso by the two athletic arms that were now wrapped around him, he felt something hard pressing against his leg. His eyes shot wide. "Oh my ... Im so sorry Joshua... Im so, so sorry." He tried to pull away, but he was gently forced back into position, he didn't really try to fight it.

"Don't be." Joshua said

"But ... but."

"But nothing."

The red head leaned in and gently closed his lips around those of his teammate. Artur didn't so much as feign resistance, succumbing immediately, savoring the warm embrace. Joshua's kiss was a lot more sensitive than Artur had imagined it would be; It was actually Artur who first slipped his tongue gently across the other's lips. Joshua pulled back with a smile, licking his own lips a little, hoping to savor his partner's taste a bit longer. Once again he fingered the coin until it fell free from its chain. "Heads we go inside and I cook you dinner, Tails we just go inside." Artur smiled and nodded. Joshua flipped the coin and caught it gingerly, pressing it against his free hand. He began slowly to uncover the coin only to be stopped when Artur's own hand shot out and stopped him before either could see the verdict. "Its tails." He said as he popped open the car door, "I'm not hungry."


End file.
